json.fromJsonList

Description

Parses a JSON string and returns it as a list (array). Safely handles malformed JSON by returning an empty list on parse errors.

Syntax 

flex.json.fromJsonList(jsonString)

Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description | |———–|——|———-|————-| | jsonString | string | Yes | A JSON string representing an array |

Returns

Type: list

A list parsed from the JSON string. Returns an empty list [] if parsing fails or if the input is not a valid JSON array.

Examples

Example 1: Basic JSON Array Parsing 

WITH '[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]' AS json
RETURN flex.json.fromJsonList(json) AS numbers

Output:

numbers
-----------
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Example 2: Parsing Complex Arrays 

WITH '[{"id":1,"name":"Alice"},{"id":2,"name":"Bob"}]' AS json
WITH flex.json.fromJsonList(json) AS users
UNWIND users AS user
RETURN user.id, user.name

Example 3: Processing Stored List Data 

MATCH (p:Product)
WHERE p.tagsJson IS NOT NULL
WITH p, flex.json.fromJsonList(p.tagsJson) AS tags
UNWIND tags AS tag
RETURN p.name, tag

Example 4: Handling Malformed JSON 

WITH '[invalid, json]' AS badJson
RETURN flex.json.fromJsonList(badJson) AS result

Output:

result
------
[]

(Returns empty list for invalid JSON)

Notes

  • Returns empty list [] if input is not valid JSON
  • Returns empty list if the JSON represents a non-array value (e.g., object, string)
  • Safe to use without error handling as it won’t throw exceptions
  • Useful for parsing list data, batch imports, or stored JSON arrays

See Also